In tree climbing the degree of difficulty of climbing is often dependent on grabbing branches or limbs to pull oneself up and using the limbs to provide footing as one progresses upwardly. Similarly these features of the tree make climbing relatively easy. Many trees fall into this category and are not difficult to climb. Other trees present much more difficulty to climb in that the branches are often at heights of 20-40 feet as in the case of pine trees grown for lumber, but generally these trees are not climbed unless being removed in an urban setting to prevent the tree from falling on a structure. In these situations, the tree cutter either uses a lift machine to access the parts of the tree where he can tie the tree off in sections as he cuts and lowers the limbs to the ground or in some cases the cutter uses shoes with spikes attached to assist climbing and a harness belt attached at the waist and wrapped around the tree to help hold the climber as he works cutting the upper limbs and lowering them by ropes to the ground. These spiked shoes can tear pieces of bark from the tree, but in a tree removal effort, the damage to the bark is not relevant.
In other applications, large coconut palm trees have the palm fronds and coconuts growing at the very tops of the trees. The coconuts weigh several pounds and when ripe fall from these trees. Again in urban regions falling coconuts can be dangerous. In other situations it is desirable to harvest these coconuts and tree climbers with a machete or large cutting device must climb the palm tree to harvest the coconuts. Other types of palm trees provide similar issues.
In these cases the climber needs to get to the fruit or leaves, then cut down and do so in a safe reliable way that does not damage the tree.
Numerous injuries and even deaths have occurred climbing coconut palm trees. Natives in many regions harvesting the coconuts have learned to shimmy up these trees using bare feet and a loop of thick cord to hold the feet tethered and their arms to work their way to the top. Some skilled climbers do this all day harvesting the crop.
Ideally, the efficiency of climbing could be improved if the tree climbers could use less exertion when climbing; then productivity could be improved.
Even more importantly, if the climber was less fatigued, he or she would be less prone to death or injuries due to falling.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cost-efficient article of clothing that facilitates tree climbing.